Bud Kurtz is a third generation immigrant with roots in Germany and Ireland , “European version Kurz or Von Kurz” . His name is often pronounced Bud Coors by his fans . He moved from Pennsylvania as a young man and landed in the North Texas town of Denton where his fellow musicians gave him the nickname Yank.
Many years later his wife used the term Yankee Dime as they were retiring for the evening. That immediately became the name of the band and the title of one of the songs.
He began playing in clubs at a tender age and worked his way through college playing frat parties and dives and anywhere else that paid the band at the end of the night or at least fed them. He was a member of the Iconic Mother Blues Club and a house band at The Phantasmagoria and the Cellar Clubs in Dallas and Fort Worth that gave birth to some of the top American blues and rock musicians of the past thirty years. Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Winters and ZZ Top, are just a few of the well-known names that emerged from those smoky black halls.
His career moved fast and following the advice of some of music’s elder statesmen he repeatedly turned down local recording deals waiting for the national companies that would surely come calling. He three-octave range and reputation for being a vocal prodigy kept him working in the Dallas Rock Clubs while he waitied for his big break.
He was the lead vocalist for numerous Denton Texas rock bands the U.S Male and " Dallas County" the top Jazz Rock Band in the Southwest. Musicians from that band included the eventual founder of the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, a founder of the legendary White Trash Horns and John Bryant drummer for The Ray Charles Band and a host of others.
He is a master of improvisation and was invited to jam with many Texas greats. He would finish his own gig and stay up all night to jam at others rock and blues shows. Legendary jazz musicians like Bones Malone from the Blues Brothers band invited him to jam with some of the greatest jazz players of that generation. Because he loved the Denton music scene so much he would tour with bands but always return there and live. This was such a fertile ground for creative people that he called it home for many years.
He reached a point in his career where he was opening shows for other signed artists and appeared to be on track to hit it big until a mistake on a medical diagnosis incorrectly threatened his life with a terminal illness. After much soul searching he was reminded of a promise to his mother that he would finish college.
He returned to campus in Denton and ultimately was given a university research fellowship and a graduate teaching fellowship that turned into a Doctoral Degree in Sociology and a university career far away from the glitter of the music business. Bud was coaxed out of his self-imposed retirement ten years ago by a local band.
Although he appreciated country music he had never actually played in a country band when asked to join Straight Shooter. He wrote some songs for the band and The Oklahoma country music association handed him the “Oklahoma Country Band of the year award” following the release of his first country CD. His first attempt at writing country music also resulted in three number one songs. Now an award winning recording artist he began to write and record on his own.
Other awards have followed and his songs have been on the charts in over 50 countries. Since hitting the road again he has played all over the Southwest. He has done shows in Nashville, played the Louisiana Hayride, and been invited to play at the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion four times . He has appeared as the opening act at concerts for Grammy award winners like Lone Star, Ricochet, David Ball, Charlie Robertson, The Derailleurs, T. Graham Brown, The Confederate Railroad and a host of others including numerous members of the Grand old Opera.
This new collection of songs is as American as rodeo, apple pie, baseball, the local bar ,loving, leaving and the endless winding of Route 66. Bud Kurtz is writing and playing again and the music business is better off for it. Somewhere in the southwest the beat goes on and his clear voice and hot guitar solos cut through the night .
The Rocket
